Team Collaboration

• All Collaboration Isn’t Good … A thoughtful critique on advocacy around “collaboration”, including “Collaboration isn’t good, but it can be.” Well worth the read. AlwaysOn
• PersonalBrain 4.0 … TheBrain Technologies released Version 4.0 of PersonalBrain, its information visualization and organization software. “PersonalBrain’s award-winning dynamic user interface and advanced linking technology enables users to connect ideas, files, and Web pages within a dynamic visual interface, helping people better understand their information, discover hidden connections, and liberate themselves from ‘linear thinking.’” New features: expanded thought views, advanced search, HTML export, Outlook integration, and more. For Windows, Mac and Linux. PRWeb
• Open-Xchange Express Edition … Open-Xchange introduced an Express Edition of its collaboration software for SMB customers. “ … Open-Xchange Express Edition supports standard groupware clients, such as Microsoft Outlook. Outlook users on Open-Xchange Express Edition can synchronize public, private, and shared folders, accept or decline appointments through Outlook, manage private appointments, tasks, contacts, and “Free/Busy” status. In addition, Open-Xchange Express Edition’s AJAX-based web interface is always accessible to users, regardless of platform.” It includes the Ubuntu operating system. Available immediately. Open-Xchange
• Blogs and Wikis in the Workplace 101 … An introduction to blogs and wikis in the business world, by CIO Magazine. CIO
• Collanos 1.1 … Collanos released Version 1.1 of Collanos Workplace, its peer-to-peer team collaboration offering. A number of issues have been resolved. Collanos Blog, Collanos User Forum
• Project Governance Success Story … The City of Roseville CA implemented a project portfolio management solution, and was able to save $680,000 from the budget. “The key for Freeman, who uses on-demand PPM vendor Innotas, was getting visibility into the 180 projects his 40-person IT organization was working on for a city of 110,000 people. This included both new projects and ongoing maintenance projects. He extracted information on those projects from spreadsheets and mapped them to his city council’s goals on a dashboard within his PPM application.”
• Xandros Purchased Scalix … Xandros, the Linux solutions company, acquired Scalix, the Linux email and calendaring company. “Scalix will continue to operate independently, as a wholly owned subsidiary of Xandros. As such, it will have the parent company’s full corporate commitment, and access to its much larger financial and engineering resources and significant new technologies, in order to maintain, enhance, and develop new products in the Scalix portfolio. It will also continue to provide full and equal support for all of Scalix’s historical platforms: Red Hat, Novell, Xandros, and others.” MarketWire, LinuxWorld, The Inquirer
• Xythos on Demand Update … Xythos released a new version of Xythos on Demand, its online document management service. Adds support for wikis and RSS feeds, new menu options, and more. Available immediately. CollaborationLoop

Mobility

• Dealing with the iPhone at Work … 12 tips for IT staffers in dealing with an influx of iPhones at work, including (a) lock it down, (b) get a protective case, (c) set up visual voice mail, and more. ComputerWorld
• Over-the-Air Calendar Sync for iPhone … Speculation that Apple will include over-the-air calendar sync with the iPhone when Leopard is released in a couple of months. Oren Sreebny

Productivity

• Cut Out Timewasters … Thoughts from Scott on how to eliminate time wasters: (a) ask yourself what happens if you stop doing it?, (b) ask what would happen if you reduced time on the activity by 50%, (c) try it for 30 days. “There are many things you simply can’t cut out of your life. Compression has an upper limit. The next step requires you to shift your thinking. Instead of focusing on productivity, focus on engagement. Find ways to really enjoy how you have decided to spend your time. I’ll admit that this isn’t an easy step, but it is probably the most important one.” Scott Young
• Impact of the BlackBerry on Work/Life Balance … Silicon.com takes on the topic of work/life balance in a BlackBerry world, and interviews 12 CIOs on their experience and views. There are pros and cons … but this advice is priceless: “The BlackBerry has definitely extended the capability of utilizing ‘dead’ time effectively–trains, taxis, 10-minute waits or answering questions like this …. The key is not to make it a way of life.” ZDNet
• Set Unreasonable Goals … Unreasonable goals make you stretch to achieve them. Five steps to setting such goals: (1) imagine and define your “X Project”, (2) think about it constantly, (3) be aware of opportunities to further achievement, (4) commit to the goal, and (5) take action. Work/Life Balancing Act